Wednesday’s Letters to the Editor

Add a solar array

EDITOR: I would like to extend kudos to the supervisors and county staff for the emergency tent village proposal on the Sonoma County campus. In your own backyard, so to speak. This will provide a central location with services as well as establishing the bed capacity needed to legally clear encampments. Encampments are unsanitary, dangerous (especially for women), provide no services for homeless people and are a threat to neighbors.

I suggest the county take one more step: consider a large solar array at the campsite. It would further the county’s environmental goals and provide shelter from rain in the winter and sun in the summer. I expect there may be state or federal funding available. If the county added some radiant heaters, that would provide a large, centralized winter warming center.

Let’s acknowledge reality — homelessness is not going away nor is extreme weather. Think about how miserable that tent village will be after getting soaked by several days of the latest atmospheric river. This is a good start but take it a little further and the impact will be significantly magnified.

ALAN COHEN

Healdsburg

Assessing water rates

EDITOR: With variation in this state, the price of water for agricultural use varies from $50 to $500 per acre-foot. During the drought there were private sales exceeding $1,500 per acre-foot. Sonoma Water says the cost of water is $1,170 per acre-foot (while other water districts are paying up to $1,500). Sonoma Water’s directors (the Board of Supervisors) is suggesting a 10% rate increase to cover needed infrastructure upgrades.

Currently, water district prices (costs in California on average) are still below $200 per acre-foot in most regions, although some areas have passed the $500 mark. Adding to the base cost is infrastructure, maintenance and upgrades, and delivery costs.

Noting the discrepancy in pricing, we deserve a better accounting of the needs and costs. Is ag getting a good deal? Or are we paying unwarranted prices?

A review of water rates found in other districts indicates our local rates are in line. However, what is missing is a third rate tier to discourage excessive water use.

ALAN LEVINE

Santa Rosa

Wildflowers at Annadel

EDITOR: Ahem, ahem. In your wildflower article, it appears that Trione-Annadel State Park didn’t make your list (“Prepare for epic wildflower bloom,” March 24). That’s like writing an article about Sonoma County grocery stores and not mentioning Oliver’s.

BILL KRUMBEIN

Santa Rosa

School visits

EDITOR: Regarding the recent tragic event at Montgomery High, I support what Dave Delgardo, a former principal, wrote: “And while many will opine that the school should have had better security. … better discipline … more counselors, we must understand that preventive measures must be shared by all of us. … Schools cannot do it on their own” (“Worst nightmare,” Letters, March 5).

What can preventive measures look like? As a retired educator, I have found school visits for parents and other community members have positive outcomes. A school extends a phone or written invitation to small groups for half-day visits. They see a typical school day. They have coffee, an administrator welcome, class visits, maybe cafeteria lunch and a debriefing (group observations, invitation to future visits). There is no change in teachers’ planned instruction.

Even a one-time visit is good, but ongoing participation should be the goal. Maybe with fingerprinting and support, a school gets some once-a-month volunteers. This is definitely one way to increase community involvement and perhaps increase student safety by having more adults on campus.

LARRY WAGNER

Sebastopol

Unfair tax system

EDITOR: Citizens who believe there are tax loopholes were called envious by Bob Proctor, who wrote that the tax laws are applied equally to all in our country (“Jealous people,” Letters, March 18). What he does not address is the inequity built into that code — the fact that wealthy people who live on capital gains pay much less than those of us who earn a living. I believe that loophole is a generic term used to disparage a system that is inherently unfair to the majority of citizens.

When you look at the budget proposed by the Democrats and the ghost budget we can’t see from the GOP, it is crystal clear that we have a collection problem more than a spending problem.

I am not saying that there is no room for modifying discretionary spending. But when you see how little the rich contribute to social safety nets and how much most of our taxes went up when Donald Trump blew a big hole in the budget by decreasing the corporate tax rate from 38% down to 21% while taking away California’s state and local deductions, it is easy to see how justifiable anger at the system is easily generated.

GERRY LAZZARESCHI

Healdsburg

You can send letters to the editor to letters@pressdemocrat.com.